the first sight.

Here he is. The man of my heart.

In the wee hours of the morning he was up tending to some cough induced night wakings from our daughters who happen to be recovering from a case of bronchitis. They are feeling much better today and had fun at preschool for any concerned grandparents out there. He also washed a huge pile of yesterday's dishes this morning and didn't complain once (he never does). In fact, he was cheerful and chatty. He is the Man.

Little did I know that he would be quite so wonderful when I first saw him. I had moved to Utah transferring colleges mid-semester during a cold January 2000. On the first Sunday at church--precisely Jan. 8th, 2000--I noticed him walk into Sunday school with his friends. He was looking over in my direction and I turned to my roommates who said amongst themselves "That is Ben Sabey. He is the Elders Quorum President. He never asks anyone out...He's really picky" and more to that effect. They were all in agreement of his gorgeousness though.

After church I was standing outside the Harmon Building at BYU (where our ward met) waiting to get my picture taken for the directory. He walked up to me and introduced himself. I think we even shook hands? He said something about introducing himself to all the new people because he was the Elders Quorum Pres. and something about letting him know if he could do anything for me, dutifully said. It was nice. Very churchy but, very nice. Have you seen him is a suit? He's hot. About 10 minutes later my roommates and I were in the hall and he walked by. I said, "Hi Ben..." as he passed. He was surprised that I gave him a comfortable, nonchalant "Hello" and smiled widely.

No fireworks. Nothing big. In fact, our first two dates didn't go over so well. But, the plain and simple truth was that we were very attracted to each other. That was enough to get to the third date and by that point that was all we needed. Heavenly Father knew us so well. He could see the future night wakings that Ben would so thoughtfully take care of so I could sleep. He knew how we would grow and change and become our best selves because we had each other. We certainly didn't know the hard work that lay ahead. We didn't know then what it meant to be married and love someone more each passing year. Today, I sit here in our student housing apartment with the children screaming about something trivial, clothes to fold, dinner to make, and Ben hard at work teaching and writing music...and I am full of warmth and comfort in knowing that our passion, love and family grows stronger because we happily work at it and because of that fateful January 8th our lives would never be the same again.

Stay tuned as out story continues tomorrow.